Chapter 11: Lessons Ignored: Teaching the Conclusions and Failures of the Chicago Commission on Race Relations

In much the same way, the United States in 2020 was experiencing a racial awakening which directed a spotlight on the racial strife and violence of the past as a way to understand the ongoing racial violence precipitated by the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012, Michael Brown in 2014, and the organizing of the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM). Five years later BLM has experienced a resurgence as protestors have taken to the streets during a global pandemic to protest ongoing police violence against Black¹, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in response to the videotaped murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The parallels between the Red Summer of 1919 and the summer of 2020 provide social studies educators with an entreé into the topic of current events through the lens of Red Summer and the race riots of the period on their 100th anniversary.